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Archive photo · 28 November 2018Haley Stevens Endorses Republican Mike Rogers After Jason Turkish Backs Rogers Over Abdul El-Sayed
6 Western Mainstream3 Western Alternative2 West Asian3 Other source typesPhoto: Phi Nguyen / US federal government, Public domain · Cropped for layout
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Haley Stevens endorsed Republican Mike Rogers for Michigan Senate days before the midterm. Her endorsement reversal deepened Democratic fracture in Michigan ahead of the election.
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Stevens backs Rogers
Haley Stevens reversed her post-primary endorsement in Michigan by endorsing Republican nominee Mike Rogers after she had previously endorsed Abdul El-Sayed for Senate following losing to him in August’s Democratic primary. Stevens’s reversal followed her appearance with Rogers and Turkish at a church service in Detroit, and Stevens told reporters outside the church, "My vote for Senate is going to be with Mike Rogers," and "I will tell you why: because we have to stand with the country."
Jason Turkish, Stevens’s fiancé, had told reporters last week that he was voting for Rogers over El-Sayed, and Turkish later told CNN that he and Stevens had "spent thousands of hours together and ultimately fell in love." Democratic leaders condemned the endorsement, and Chuck Schumer called it a "despicable betrayal" while Michigan Democratic Party Chair Curtis Hertel said Stevens had "abandoned everything she claims to care about."
Claims about Turkish
Caitlin Legacki, a former Stevens adviser, accused Turkish of controlling the decision and wrote on X, "Jason is vaporizing Haley’s future so that he can be a main character in this moment."
CNN reported that a top campaign aide described Turkish’s role as, "He would wind her up, and then we’d have to wind her down," and the report said Turkish frequently sent Stevens comments mocking her appearance and mannerisms.
Turkish denied taking control of Stevens’s phone, and the Daily Beast reported that Jordan Acker claimed Turkish had taken her phone away while Turkish disputed the account.
Turkish also told CNN that anyone suggesting he was controlling her had "obviously never met Haley," and Stevens posted on X that her fiancé had "his own views. I have mine."
Party fallout and stakes
Michigan Democratic Party Chair Curtis Hertel announced Stevens was no longer part of the party about an hour after Stevens posted her support for Mike Rogers, and the dispute left Stevens effectively banished from the Michigan Democratic Party. The Independent said El-Sayed’s campaign reported raising more than $2.4 million Sunday after Stevens endorsed Rogers, and the campaign reported more than 65,000 individual donations on Sunday with an average donation of roughly $37.
Prediction markets reacted as El-Sayed’s odds jumped to 69 percent on both Kalshi and Polymarket shortly after Stevens announced her endorsement, and by 9 a.m. his odds were 78 percent on Kalshi and 79 percent on Polymarket. Stevens insisted she remained a Democrat while calling the rumors "sexism dressed up as political analysis," and Turkish told a Michigan radio station, "Democratic politics is how I met the love of my life," as the race for Senate control remained tied to the midterms on November 3.
